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JEWISH WEDBtflE BOARD 

UNITED STATES ARMY ANT D JSTAVY 




Co-cperating with and under the 
supervision of theOVar De- 
partment Commission 
onHraining Camp 
Activities *^*^ 



m 





NationalHeadquarters, 149-5thAveif.Y 



WAIt OKI»ARTM8NT 



WASHINOTOM 



Colonel Harry Cutler, ..Chalrmaa, 
7 Eddy Street, 
Providence, R.. 1. 

Dear Sir: 

I am writing to reaffirm the arrangements 

made Informally with your Board a ome" months ago to 

the effect that this commission recognized your 

society as the official agency for Jevi"^ -.^ip^,,^ 

work in the, mil it ary, camps of lh.e Uni 

■ It is necessary for us. In each qase, i? 

deal with one such agency, 80 as to ellmlncte 

duplication of effort and overlapping of function. 

I trust ^-that you will be able to co-ordinate all the 

activities .along this special line which are seeking 

Independently to work with Jewish soldiers in the camp, 

Very^^»tfiy yours. 



Facsimile Letter of Official Recognition c^^ 
TKe Je>wisK Welfare Board 



Purpose, Scope and Achievement of the 
Jewish Welfare Board 

The Jewish Welfare Board is a welfare organization, co- 
operating with and under the supervision of the War Depart- 
ment Commission on Training Camp Activities. It has been 
officially recognized by the War Department as the accredited 
agency for Jewish welfare work in camps and naval training 
stations. Like the Y. M. C. A. and K. of C, it ministers to the 
spiritual and recreational needs of all the men in the army and 
navy, but serving especially those of the Jewish faith. 

PURPOSE OF THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 

To be with the Jewish soldier and sailor everywhere, aiding 
him, cheering h!m, inspiring him, serving him loyally and help- 
fully, and, through him, his country, and the ideals for .which it 
stands — this is the purpose of the Jewish Welfare Board. Wher- 
ever the flag goes the Jewish Welfare Board follows, its workers 
ever ready to serve. 

To adjust the soldiers and sailors of Jewish faith to their new 
surroundings; to maintain and encourage their religious convic- 
tions; to offer them the intimate human service of hospital 
visitation; to investigate real or fancied injustice; to aid in busi- 
ness matters; to advise in regard to insurance and pay-allotments ; 
to help them in writing and transmission of letters, in questions 
of ethics or conscience, military matters, family troubles, loneliness 
or dejection; to give them material comforts, and inward con- 
solation in all difficulties ; to provide them with wholesome re- 
creation and entertainment in their free time; to obtain for them 



THE JfcWISH WELFARE BOARD 



the entree into congenial homes; to bring to them the personal 
service of friendly understanding and brotherly guidance; to 
assure them of the organized aid available for their families and 
dependents; to voice their devotion to the cause of America and 
her Allies; to afford a medium for the organized patriotic expres- 
sion of the great American Jewish community in war service — 
these are some of the functions of the Jewish Welfare Board. 

In all its work, the Jewish Welfare Board seeks to take nothing 
from the scope of any other welfare agency, but rather to cooperate 
and to make a well-fitting part in a harmonious whole. It distinctly 
opposes segregation of the Jew from his Gentile brother-in-arms. 
Its aim is to help the Jewish boy to understand and sympathize 
with those about him and to be in turn understood by them. 

"If you do not intend to segregate the Jewish youth, then why 
a Jewish Welfare Board?" critics have asked. Dr. John R. Mott, 
general director of the United War Work campaign and general 
secretary of the Y. M. C. A., gives the answer. "The most dis- 
tinctive vital function of the Jewish Welfare Board is the safe- 
guarding and developing of the religious life and convictions of 
your men. This cannot be done by any other organization or 
worker. It is a matter of utmost importance, and fully justifies 
you in developing and carrying out a program to make it possible." 

CO-ORDINATION OF JEWISH WORK 

The Jewish Welfare Board was organized in the spring of 19 1 7 
to unite all elements of American Jewry into one large responsible 
and representative war welfare body. It coordinates and organ- 
izes the good-will of individuals, communities, and organizations 
into a centralized working force which has concentrated the ac- 
tivities of all Jewish organizations in welfare work for soldiers and 
sailors and their families. Participating in its councils and ad- 
ministration and represented on its Executive Committee are the 
following organizations : Central Conference of American Rabbis, 



THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 



Council of Y. M. H. A. and Kindred Associations, Council of 
Jewish Women, Agudath Ha-Rabbonim, Independent Order 
Brith Abraham, Independent Order B'nai Brith, Independent 
Order Brith Sholom, Jewish Publication Society of America, 
Jewish Chautauqua Society, National Federation of Temple 
Sisterhoods, New York Board of Jewish Ministers, Order Brith 
Abraham, Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Union of 
Orthodox Jewish Congregations and United Synagogue of 
America. 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

Colonel Harry Cutler, of Providence, R. I., is Chairman of the 
Board; Dr. Cyrus Adler, of Philadelphia, Vice-Chairman; Ches- 
ter Jacob Teller, of New York City, Secretary; Walter E. Sachs, 
of New York, Treasurer. The members of the Executive Com- 
mittee are: Henry J. Bernheim, I. Edwin Goldwasser, Charles 
Hartman, Justice Irving Lehman, Rabbi M. S. Margolies, Rabbi 
D. De Sola Pool, Joseph Rosenzweig, Mortimer L. Schiff, Abram 
I. Elkus, Rabbi Maurice H. Harris, Louis E. Kirstein, Louis 
Marshall, Rabbi William Rosenau, Bernard Semel, Israel Un- 
terberg, Dr. Boris D. Bogen and Morris Rothenberg. 

The Executive Committee operates through five main commit- 
tees, having under their direction publicity and propaganda, re- 
ligious activities, general activities, finance and buildings. There 
is a special Committee on Chaplains, and another special Com- 
mittee on Personnel. 

. For the purposes of more intensive organization of the field 
work, both in the Jewish communities and in the cantonments, 
the country has been divided into five sections, each of which is 
in charge of a travelling field supervisor, whose duty it is to go 
among the communities and camps, to superintend and perfect 
the detailed organization of work. The Field- Supervisors con- 
sult with the Field Representatives and community organizations, 
offering them advice, instructions and the encouragement of per- 
sonal contact. 



THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 












Services Interdenominational CKapel, Camp Upton, L. I. 

TRAINING WELFARE WORKERS 

Upon the calibre and training of its representatives in the 
field the success of the Jewish Welfare Board in a large measure 
depends. To meet the need for trained men, the Board main- 
tains a training-school for workers at its headquarters — 149 Fifth 
Ave., N. Y., which provides a practical preliminary course in the 
history and policies of the movement, and problems of camp and 
town work, and also supplies the workers with a Jewish historical 
and cultural background. The object of this school is to train as 
rapidly as possible the largest number of men able to fulfil the 
obligations and duties of Jewish Welfare Workers. Each month 
more than twenty-five field representatives are trained at the 
school. Men of experience and substantial reputation in the fields 



THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 




J. W. B. Reading and Lounging Room, Camp Meade, Maryland 

of Jewish religion, education, and social welfare are the instruc- 
tors. 

In four weeks of intensive training, lectures are given on the 
different theories of Americanization and assimilation, emphasiz- 
ing the point of view of the immigrant; on the Jewish attitude 
toward war and peace; on the principles and purposes of the 
Jewish Welfare Board, on the causes and aims of the war; on army 
rules and etiquette, on social hygiene, and on various phases of 
Jewish Welfare Board work. Before they are assigned to military 
posts, the men are sent to camps in the vicinity of New York for 
practical field training. 

The first Jewish Welfare Board worKcrs to go into camps were 
for the most part volunteers. To-day more than two hundred and 
fifty trained workers minister to the needs of the Jewish man in 



THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 



uniform. In the olive drab uniform of the Jewish Welfare 
Worker one finds rabbis, social workers, lawyers, journalists, 
teachers, college graduates whose interests lie mainly along lines 
of humanitarian helpfulness, and successful business men with 
executive ability and knowledge of management of men. 

WELFARE WORKERS 

The "Star of David Man," as the Jewish Welfare Worker is 
familiarly known, is spiritual leader, teacher, guide, counsellor, 
and friend to beys from all stations of life and of all shades of 
thought. Everything from leading a "minyan" to staging a 
boxing bout for the entertainment of the boys falls within the 
province of the Jewish Welfare Board workers. Although an 
outline scarcely describes his services, the work of the field repre- 
sentative may be briefiy set forth as follows: 

I . — Religious Work at the Camps 

(a) Friday Evening Services 

(b) Sabbath Services 

(c) Yahrzeit (Memorial) Services 

(d) Daily Services 
(c) Holyday Services 

2. — Educational Work 

(a) English to foreigners or illiterates • 

(b) French Classes 

(c) American History and Civics 

(d) Classes in Military Tactics 

(e) Bible Study and Jewish History 

3. — Social and Recreatio7ial Activities 

(a) Literary Clubs 

(b) Discussion groups 

(c) Entertainments 

(d) Concerts 



THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 



(e) Secular Celebrations of Jewish Holidays 

(f) Athletic Concerts 

(g) Dances 

4. — Personal Service 

(a) Guard House 

(b) Hospital 

(c) Information 

(d) Legal Advice 

(e) General Personal Service 

RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES 

Every Jewish religious observance of greater or minor signifi- 
cance is marked by services in the camps. The Jewish Welfare 
Board supplies Prayer Books, Bibles and special literature, and 
other essentials to Orthodox and Reform observants. It arranges 
with the War and Navy Departments for Holyday furloughs for 
Jewish men on Rosh Hashonah, Yom Kippur, and Passover, and 
wherever expedient the men are allowed to go home for the dura- 
tion of their furlough. For the other men homes and synagogues 
are thrown open in the towns near cantonments. The community 
branches of the Jewish Welfare Board working with the Camp 
Representatives bring the soldier or sailor back into the holyday 
atmosphere of home. 

EDUCATIONAL WORK 

Hundreds of men are sent to camp with a scant knowledge of 
English. They are unable even to understand the commands of 
their officers. The Jewish Welfare Worker, who knows their 
racial characteristics and speaks their language, serves as a point 
of contact. Under his guidance English classes are organized. 
Classes in Civics and American History are part of the edu- 
cational program, while classes in French, mathematics, and 
military tactics and procedure are valuable aids to Uncle Sam in 



THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 




An Evening at a J. W. B. Center 

the making of good soldiers. They often pave the way to pro- 
motion for the diligent student. All of these classes are non- 
sectarian and are conducted for all boys who care to take advant- 
age of them. For the Jewish boys particularly, the Jewish Wel- 
fare Board representatives organize Bible Study and Jewish His- 
tory classes. 

SOCIAL AND RECREATIONAL WORK 

The Jewish Welfare Board works with the Y. M. C. A. and 
K. of C. to provide wholesome entertainment at the cantonments. 
Dances, athletic contests, and entertainments are arranged for all 
boys regardless of faith, in the buildings of anyone of the co- 
operating organizations. Jewish concerts, to which Jewish leaders 
in theatrical and musical circles have contributed, are features 
of the Jewish Welfare Board's recreational program. For boys 



THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 




Sundaj? NigKt "CKow" at J. W. B. Center 

whose preferences run to literary evenings, clubs and discussion 
groups are organized. The Double Triangle of the Jewish Wel- 
fare Board spells education and recreation to the boy in camp. 

PERSONAL SERVICES 

Countless anxieties hang over the head of the boy who has just 
donned the uniform of his country's service. A multitude of per- 
plexities must be solved for him by the Welfare worker. The big- 
gest task of all is that of rendering personal service. An allot- 
ment that goes astray; a business that threatens to be sacri- 
ficed because its owner has been drafted; sickness and poverty 
at home; disagreements between a soldier and his family; a sick 
boy in the hospital; an occasional marriage; a will; the solemn 
last rite of burial ; all these and countless other situations call for 
the resourcefulness of the Jewish Welfare Board worker. 



10 THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 

There was the case of "Bennie," who was being treated at a 
base hospital for mental aphasia. The "Star of David Man" 
visited him daily, cheered him and gained his confidence, until 
the melancholy was dispelled and "Bennie" commenced to take an 
interest in the things about him. His nurse insists that sympathy 
and understanding affected the cure where medical skill had failed. 

When a private, whose English was exceedingly faulty, could 
not understand the command of his sergeant, he was openly in- 
sulted before his regiment. The J ewish Wei fare Board representa- 
tive took up the case with the Commanding Officer. The ser- 
geant was demoted and a precedent established that made racial 
discrimination practically a breach of military discipline. Sup- 
plementing the field personal service work, there is an informa- 
tion service bureau at National Headquarters to which hundreds 
come for varied information and advice. 

IN THE NAVY 

The Jewish Welfare Board is also at work among sailors. Not 
only is the organization carrying on its regular schedule of reli- 
gious, educational, and recreational work at Naval Training Sta- 
tions and Naval Bases, but programs are made up with reference 
to the special regulations of the Navy. Relations have been 
established at the Central Office for the men aboard thirty United 
States warships. These men are supplied with stationery. Bibles, 
prayer books, Jewish literature, reading matter, games, comfort 
kits, and phonograph records. 

A Navy Department has been established at National Head- 
quarters which is working out plans for more extensive work on 
shipboard and in Naval Bases and Training Stations. 

WELFARE BOARD BUILDINGS 

In all of the largest cantonments the Jewish Welfare Board 
has established its own quarters in a building or tent, which serves 



THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 



both as an administrative and a recreational center. With the 
expansion of its work and the increased number of Jewish boys in 
the services, the need for additional housing facilities became ap- 
parent. In May, 191 8, the Jewish Welfare Board was a year old. 
A general order was issued by the United States War Department 
permitting it to erect buildings in camps for recreational, religious, 
and administrative purposes, and a large number of buildings was 
authorized. 

Camp Upton, Yaphank, L. I., was the first cantonment to have 
a Jewish Welfare Board building of its own, and others followed 
in quick succession. The first Jewish Welfare Board building at 
a naval station was erected at Pelham Bay. The beginning of 
1 9 19 will see over one hundred Jewish Welfare buildings in camps 
and naval training stations, and in the Jewish communities. 

COMMUNITY BRANCHES 

Of equal importance with the work performed in the canton- 
ments is the organization of the Jewish communities either ad- 
jacent to camps or distant from them. Practically every com- 
munity of considerable Jewish population is now doing its share as 
a branch of the Jewish Welfare Board toward making the life of a 
soldier and sailor comfortable and pleasant. The New York City 
Branch, for example, has turned a five-story city building into a 
hospitality house and information center for soldiers and sailors 
and their relatives, and is operating canteens and community 
centers for the Jewish uniformed men in sections of the city 
that have a congested Jewish population. 

To arrange for the entertainment, in Jewish homes, of men on 
leave; to provide amusements to which groups of men may be 
invited; to furnish suitable and abundant reading matter; to 
arrange for the visiting to the camps of rabbis and public speakers 
to address the men on various subjects; to arrange for religious 
services on the Sabbath and Holy Days, supplementing the ser- 



12 



THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 




HolidaT? Feast, auspices of J. W. B. TovJn BrancK 



vices in the camps; to provide hospitality and entertainment for 
boys on Holyday furloughs; to care for the dependents of the 
boys who have marched away; to do social work among the boys 
themselves, in camp hospital and guard house; to offer the soldiers 
all the resources of the community — these are some of the functions 
of the Jewish Welfare Board Community Branch. 

WORK AMONG GENTILE RUSSIANS 

Thejewish Welfare Board has organized a program of welfare 
work among gentile Russians in army camps and Slavic community 
centers. The Russian Aid Bureau Branch is sending welfare 
workers into army camps throughout the country to conduct 
educational and recreational activities and to aid the unassimilated 
Russian in adapting himself to his new environment. Central 



THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 




J. W. B. Building at Camp Hancock 

offices of the Branch are being opened in the Russian quarter of 
New York City and in every community where there is a con- 
siderable Russian population. Information Bureaus are being in- 
stituted to assist men of draft age in filling out the questionnaires 
and in solving the perplexities that arise from military regulations. 

OVERSEAS PLANS 

Successful in camp and town, the Jewish Welfare Board has 
been extending its work overseas. It has opened headquarters 
at 41 Boulevard Haussman, Paris. One hundred Welfare Work- 
ers, recruited by a general appeal, are being sent overseas. In 
France, the Jewish Welfare Board operates through the overseas 
organization of the Y. M. C. A. and K. of C, using the huts of 
these organizations and suJSplementing their work by stepping in 
where a Jewish organization can serve most satisfactorily. 



THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 



A Women's Division for overseas work has been organized to 
send abroad a unit of one hundred women workers to care for the 
women of belligerent countries, and to do special work among the 
Jewish men in the service. The Council of Jewish Women, Feder- 
ation of Temple Sisterhoods, and Y. W. H. A. are co-operating in 
the plan. 

In London a Hospitality Center has been opened by a group 
of leading British Jews, working unofficially in co-operation with 
the Jewish Welfare Board. An Information Center, reading and 
writing and rest rooms welcome and assist the American boy, who 
is a stranger in the big city. 

The Jewish Welfare Board is also co-operating with the re- 
cently organized French Commission of Jews, with Chief Rabbi 
Israel Levi, of France, at its head. This commission has estab- 
lished a community center in Paris for soldiers of Jewish faith of 
all allies now in France. 

Among the achievements of the Jewish Welfare Board overseas 
was the official substitution of a "Mogen Dovid" instead 
of a cross over Jewish graves and the securing of furloughs and 
opportunities for holyday observance for the Jewish members of 
the American Expeditionary Forces on Rosh Hashonah and Yom 
Kippur. The five Jewish chaplains then in France, and prominent 
New York rabbis who represented the Welfare Board, conducted 
services for the troops at various points, and French synagogues 
and homes were thrown open to the Americans. The Jewish Wel- 
fare Board has recommended twenty-five Jewish chaplains to the 
War Department and it has secured an or.der substituting the 
''Star of David" and the Tablets of the Law for the Cross as an 
insignia of Jewish chaplains. 

DISTRIBUTION OF SUPPLIES 

In one-half year, the Jewish Welfar^Board sent out through the 
Central Office over 100,000 prayer books, 80,000 Bibles, over 



THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 



3,000,000 letter-heads, and 1,500,000 envelopes. The prayer 
books and Bibles have both been warmly welcomed by the soldiers, 
who have found Jewish inspiration in them and by religious 
leaders and laymen of all denominations. 

Standard libraries in Yiddish and English have been shipped 
to all camps through the co-operation of the Jewish Publication 
Society and the American Library Association. Forty thousand 
Yiddish translations of the Government Allotment, Compensa- 
tion and Insurance Laws and a translation of pamphlets on Sex 
Hygiene in Yiddish have been distributed. Jewish newspapers 
and periodicals have been forwarded through the courtesy of their 
publishers. Many special articles requested by the soldiers, such 
as mezussas, tsisith, tefillin, special prayer books and Bibles in 
the original Hebrew have also been forwarded. 

APPRECIATION OF J. W. B. 

It is impossible to estimate the influence and benefits of the 
Jewish Welfare Board. Every mail brings letters from the boys 
in the service who have high praise for the efforts of the Jewish 
Welfare Board. "I can't tell you what it meant to me to find 
the friendly smile and welcome hand of your boys," a soldier 
said before he sailed to the dangers overseas. "It is a comfort to 
know that although it is an impossibility for me to be with my 
son, there are others who are keeping a watchful eye over him," 
wrote a soldier's mother. A young dentist, who had been dis- 
interested in Jewish institutions, experienced a complete, reversal 
of opinion when he came in contact with the Jewish Welfare Board. 
He wrote of the strangeness and difficulties of his new camp life 
and the facility with which the Jewish Welfare Board overcame 
them all. He added: "I am sorry that I cannot express to you 
all that the Jewish soldier feels toward the Jewish Welfare Board." 
"There is a debt of gratitude that we owe you, who are so anxious 



THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 



to make our boys feel at home." This from a sister of a soldier. 
A Catholic writing to the Jewish Welfare Board before his depart- 
ure for France said: "I cannot help expressing my heartiest 
thanks to all your secretaries for what they have done for me." 

Among the boys overseas religious regeneration is at work. 
In the lonely watches of "No Man's Land" they are finding God. 
Their gratitude for prayer books, Bibles, and for the Jewish chap- 
lains who are sent over by the War Department is sincere and 
deep. - 

Reaching the hearts of .men, serving loyally and helpfully in 
the nation's crisis, linking together American Jewry in a great 
cause the Jewish Welfare Board stands as a spontaneous and whole- 
hearted expression of the Jewish men and women of this country. 

Our boys cannot be the less American because they are the 
more Jewish; they realize that they are all soldiers of America, 
fighting or ready to fight and die, if need be, in the cause of Amer- 
ica. They want to be brothers to the Protestant, to the Catholic, 
to the men of all faiths, who are at their side. They wish to enjoy 
the friendship and respect of their associates and of their superiors. 
The Jewish Welfare Board sees that they do all these things while 
retaining the identity of their faith and remaining staunch Jews 
and Americans loyal to the highest ideals of democratic citizen- 
ship. 

From a small organization with a small staff and a handful of 
welfare workers, the organization has grown to a huge welfare 
agency, with representatives in practically every camp and 
naval training station with branches in every large city of the 
country and with work that is being extended overseas. The 
Jewish Welfare Board, organized in a moment of national emer- 
gency has become an achievement of American Jewish life, brought 
about by wholehearted devotion and service to those who are 
ready to make the great sacrifice for country and God. 



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I 

WAR OKP>AnTMKNT. | 

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Ifov«Bbtr 20, 1917 

Qolonel Harry Cutler 
Eddy Street 
Providence 

B. 1. 

Doar Sir: 

Mr. Foadlck hae told ma of the effectire activity 
of tha Jewieh Board, for Welfare* Work in coordinating the 
Various Jeniah agencies nhich have sought recognition for 
rrork inc-ida our xailitary training caa^js. In order -to 
prevent duplication of effort, it was necessary to deal 
with a single agency, broad enough in its scope and organi- 
zation to coinprdhend other gro\:^s seeking to do the same 
kind of work. For that reason, we w©re very glad when 
such men as Mr. Jacob Schiff , I^,. Felix Warburg and your- 
self, came forward with this plan for a Jewish Board for 
Welfare Work, and I au only too glad to congratulate you 
on what has baen accoo^lished, and to wish you every success 
in your coordinating activities. 

Cordially yours, 

Secretary of War 

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Letter of Congratulation from, Secretary of. War Newton D. . Bakei; 



!iimm£fifl ^^ CONGRESS 



020 930 187 8 



T^ere aren't sufficient wm^^^" 
press adequately my pleasure and 
joy in learning that my son has in 
so short a time found such hospitable 
friends in his new temporary abode. It is 
not without many a heartache that a mother 
gives up her son, and mine has been doub- 
led, since I ha've given one to the army 
and one to the navy. Institutions such as 
the Jewish Welfare ^oard cast a ray of 
sunshine, especially at this time when the 
horizon seems to be covered with dark 
clouds of war,''— 

From the mother of two patriots. 



HoUinge 
pH 



I TRRARY OF CONGRESS 

mi 

020 930 io' ^ 



